Sarah Hay Sarah Hay i(A63877 works by)
Born: Established: ca. 1966 ;
Gender: Female
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Sarah Hay grew up on a station near Esperance, Western Australia. She has worked as a jillaroo and shearer's hand and began her writing career as a livestock journalist for the Western Farmer and Grazier. In 1989 she travelled to London where she worked for some time as a freelance writer before becoming a diary reporter for Today. After returning to Australia in 1993, she worked in public relations and began an arts degree at the University of Western Australia in 1998. Hay took a year off from her studies to write her first novel Skins. This exploration of civilization, race and gender on a remote Western Australian island won the Australian/Vogel Award for 2001. Hay studied philosophy and English at the University of Western Australia.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2009 Australia Council Literature Board Grants — Grants for Developing Writers Fiction, $25,000
2001 recipient Centenary Medal For service to Australian society and literature
VIEW ALL AWARDS

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Texas : An Australian Love Story Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2008 Z1488279 2008 single work novel 'On a rundown station in the remote top end of Australia, life for Susannah is isolated and difficult. Susannah is left alone by her husband who is the manager of the station. She is forced to cope with their young twins, the hard physical work of running the homestead, and the frustration that these things now mark the boundaries of her life. Nothing is as she expected it to be; a dark history seeps through the land and the air shimmers with heat and an intangible menace. And then a young English girl, Laura, hired by her husband, arrives on the property to work as a jillaroo. Laura falls in love with Texas, the Aboriginal head stockman, naively believing that her love will pull him out of long-held destructive habits. And Susannah, preoccupied by her own struggles, watches from the sidelines.' (Publisher's blurb)
2009 highly commended Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction
y separately published work icon Skins Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2002 Z912135 2002 single work novel historical fiction

'Shipwrecked off the coast of Western Australia in 1835, Dorothea Newell is marooned on Middle Island with other survivors. Stranded, they seek shelter in a sealers' camp. The desolate environment of the island camp is a place where men from all corners of the globe struggle to trade seal skins, and the appearance of women-rare commodities in that place and time-opens a further form of trade. As a desperate means of survival, Dorothea is forced into an alliance with the camp's fierce leader, John Anderson.

'Skins is the compelling story of Dorothea's emotional and physical journey back to civilisation. Featuring an immense, wild landscape of ocean and islands untainted by human existence, Sarah Hay writes a remarkable tale of people who have fallen through the gaps of recorded history.' (Synopsis)
2003 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
2001 winner The Australian / Vogel National Literary Award (for an unpublished manuscript)
2002 shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Fiction
VIEW ALL AWARDS
Last amended 24 Apr 2018 16:49:17
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X